ET TU, SAMUS?

August 31st, 2010, 5:00 pm

I'm not a huge G4 fan, but check out this review for Metroid: Other M:

To be completely honest, I have not played Other M, and I probably won't have a chance to for at least another few months.

That being said, I have been watching the previews and gameplay videos and advertisements that have been systematically littered about the intrawebs by Team Ninja, and I have to say, I completely agree with the review.

Samus Aran was the one character that gave me hope for the future of female representation in video games. Think about it - up to this point, when you think "video game female", what do you end up thinking about? Subserviant Princess Peach, who can't help but be kidnapped by the big bad Bowser every three seconds? Laura Croft, who amazingly can somehow go spleunking with DDDD knockers?

But mention Samus, and you think bad ass bounty hunter, who takes on the most dangerous missions that everyone else is too afraid to do, who hasn't been "sexualized" by greedy video game developers hoping to cash in on the male libido. In the future, I'd be ok with my daughter one day pretending to be like Samus.

But no. Team Ninja, the same developers who developed Dead or Alive: Boobtacular Beach Volleyboob with Boobs, felt it necessary to distill the heroic and larger-than-life Samus and redraw her as a subservient woman who needs to prance around in a skin-tight suit to be taken seriously.

The cop-out argument being levied by supporters of such outright sexism will argue that Team Ninja was merely emphasizing the female "form", and that in and of itself is not sexism, and you should stop pushing the feminist agenda blah blah blah.

To those people, I unfortunately need to remind you that this is not real life. This is a computer program that is designed (mainly by men, by the way) to look like a female human being. So, by conciously making the artistic decision to appeal to the testosterone-fueled "hardcore" subset, they are utilizing female sterotypes to get this through.

This isn't Samus deciding she wants to be sexy, this is a GAME DEVELOPER deciding that for us.

And it's a damn shame, not just to me, but to a lot of female gamers out there who enjoyed having a hero who didn't need to placate to men.